Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers

I bought 4 beautiful red peppers to make this recipe.

Curried Carrot Soup

I asked my son to pick up my favorite carrots with tops from Costco.  They're in a 1.5 lb bag.  I was going to roast them, like I've done before in the picture below...aren't they beauties?

German Potato Salad

I have never made this before and I'm not even sure if I've tasted it either.  I'm sure I probably have at some point in my life, but I can't recall.  Anyway, since I saw it pop up somewhere on social media, I've been obsessing over it.  Today was the day I decided to make it.  I looked at a lot of different supposedly "authentic" recipes and in the end, I liked this one best.  I pretty much followed the recipe exactly.  I used chives and parsley because my son detests dill.  If it were just for me, I would have used dill.  I even had German mustard at home!

Meatless “Meat” Sauce with Chickpeas and Mushrooms

I got this recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  It looked worth a try.  I was going to use my Trader Joe's brown rice quinoa fusilli pasta for this.  I started dinner really late this evening as I was watching the "Survivor" finale on t.v., and my son worked late so wasn't home anyway...The finale was 3 hours long, so I did my mise en place during commercials.  It worked well actually.  I had everything ready to go when I was ready to cook.

Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Thighs

This is an easy way to get that "fried chicken" fix without all the work or fat.  I marinated some bone-in, skin on chicken thighs in some buttermilk, hot sauce and seasonings for 6 hours in a Ziploc bag, in the fridge.

Homemade French Onion Soup

I saw Vidalia onions from Georgia while out shopping and bought a bag of them.  They are my favorite of all onions.  I thought about making French Onion soup.  I decided to try caramelizing them in my crockpot overnight so I wasn't stuck stirring at the stove for hours.  I've done that many times but have never tried the crockpot method. I used 3 really large ones, probably about a pound each.  I peeled them, halved them and then cut them in thin slices.  I added 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of kosher salt.  I stirred until all the onions were coated and then put the crockpot on low for 12 hours.

Spaghetti Meat Sauce & Kraft Dinner Casserole

Whenever I go away on vacation, I leave my son a casserole to start his meals off.  A co-worker told me this recipe when he was young.  I was always looking for quick, easy, tasty, kid friendly ideas.  This was one and we both loved it.  I don't make it now, because I don't used processed foods much any longer, but today this really suited the purpose, and it was nostalgic to me in the sense of his childhood.  It's nice to enjoy food memories from the past at times.  It's very simple:

Chicken Stew

So, I used what ingredients I had in my fridge and made a stew with them.  I had 4 chicken thighs with legs, so cut them up to make 8 pieces.  I seasoned with Trader Joe's "Garlic salt, sea salt, roasted garlic, onion and parsley" and fresh cracked pepper.  I browned them in some olive oil and then took them out and set them aside.  The rest of the ingredients I used are:

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale this week, so I picked some up.  I was debating at trying the "Chicken Kiev" dish again, but then saw this recipe and decided it would be dinner.  It looked easy and not fussy, which was what sold me.  Plus my son and I agreed that with that chicken kiev, it would have been better with cheese.  I had some nitrate free deli ham from Trader Joe's and some Emmentaler Swiss cheese in the fridge so it was all good.  I decided not to make the sauce though it looked great - I love sauces - I could be the mother of all mother sauces, but I thought that the cheese was enough for excess calories tonight.  For sides, I had sauteed mushrooms and leftover baby potatoes from brunch yesterday.  I gave my son some mac & cheese, mushrooms and corn for his.

Smoked Turkey, Chicken Andouille & Pinto Bean Enchiladas

I had lots of leftovers from this last night, so I decided to make enchiladas with it.  I also had some low-carb tortillas in the fridge too, so thought this would be a good use for them.